Bitcoin long futures open interest held by asset managers hits all-time high

The open interest in bitcoin long futures held by asset managers on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), has reached an all-time high.

Open interest of CME bitcoin long futures by asset managers increased from $1.04 billion at the end of October, to a current value of $1.98 billion, according to The Block’s Data Dashboard.

The current value of the contracts held by asset managers eclipsed the former all-time high. When bitcoin’s price reached an all-time high in November 2021 of $68,000, the CME bitcoin long futures open interest held by asset managers at the time went only as high as $1.67 billion.

The uptick in open futures contracts suggests asset managers are anticipating bitcoin price appreciation by the time the current contracts expire on the last Friday of December.

The open interest from hedge funds going long on bitcoin futures on the CME is also at a high point. Currently, there’s $680 million of open interest from hedge funds going long, which remains below the all-time high of $960 million.

That said, hedge funds are also responsible for the majority of open interest for short positions for bitcoin futures on the CME. Such hedge funds are responsible for more than $2 billion of open interest in this direction.

Overall, asset managers have a net long position that’s $1.97 billion in size, while hedge funds have a net short position, worth $1.36 billion, according to The Block’s Data Dashboard.

On November 10, CME bitcoin futures flipped Binance’s BTC -0.02% futures markets in terms of size, showing increased demand from institutional investors. According to data from Coinglass, the total open interest on the CME for bitcoin futures is now $4.15 billion, compared to $4.08 billion on the Binance futures market.

Data from The Block’s Data Dashboard also shows an all-time high for large open interest holders of CME bitcoin futures, for both long and short positions. The uptick in open interest for positions involving at least 25 bitcoin shows increased activity in the derivatives market by participants with large holdings. This would suggest market activity is leaning towards trades by more sophisticated, experienced investors.